Saturday, August 17, 2013

1 millionth digital badge awarded by OERu

Today a representative from OpenEducationalResourcesUniversity stated that it crossed the 1 millionth
digital badge milestone. The 1 millionth digital badge was awarded to 65 year
old grandfather William Levin of Sydney and another was awarded to his teenage
grandson, Sean Davies of Noosa in Queensland. On 13, November 2017,the retiree grandfather and his 12 year old grandson
who is being home-schooled both successfully completed a surfing safely short course
combined with a cyber bullying online module and received a digital badge called
Safe Surfing: the Internet and the sea.

With the aim of becoming a professional surfer and life
saver, Sean started taking surfing lessons at the local Noosa surf club. His grandfather
who also happens to be his best friend wanted to introduce him to the
advantages of safety on Australian beaches and decided to do it in a fun way.
He searched the internet for interesting interactive resources and chanced upon
one offered as a collaborated effort by Surf Life Saving Queensland and Surfing
Australia. A pop up led him to a new window that was sponsored by OERu which
allowed him a whole range of activities as a progressive course offered by the
two Australian organisations. He registered and sent the link to his son James who
showed it to Sean, the 12 year old grandson. William and Sean accessed the
online resource and discussed it on the phone and via Skype. There were videos
and online tasks, surveys, recordings of webinars by real-life surfers and
evena mOOC which they attended together. They worked on the module and
progressed from stage to stage.

One day when William searched the OERu website for ‘surfing’,
an interesting link led him to another website sponsored by the Australian National
Cyber National Cyber Security Alliance (NCNCSA), co-sponsored by Symantec Corporation
and endorsed by UNESCO. As Sean was at a crucial point in his life having been
introduced to the internet, William decided to make him aware of the dangers of
cyberspace, as well. So he sent a link to the cyber bullying module to James
who registered and permitted Sean to access it, online.

The next day, William received an email from OERu
offering him a free registration to a combination of the two courses called Safe
surfing: the Internet and the sea, under Creative Commons (CC) licensing and the
auspices of Commonwealth of Learning (COL). This was a wonderful opportunity
for two learners from different parts of Australia to be trained in a rare combination of two
different skills which are very essential to every Australian kid. William
signed up and so did James (on behalf of Sean).

After a period of 3 months,
learning and discussing things at their own pace, William and Sean successfully
completed every online and extension activity to be awarded their digital
badges – Two happy chappies with one philanthropic institution and a whole host
of other organizations to be thanked for the dive and the ride. Happy Surfing
Sean!!

BL - reporter

PS: Not
sure whether the date of the event is too soon, but with the rapid
growth OERu and the popularity of online learning it seems alright.